But wait, there is some great news for anyone interested is seeing what all the hype is about, Eric emailed me yesterday to tell me that the Summit will be broadcast live, for FREE! You will not be able to get CEU’s this way, but at the very least you can hear all the great information from the wonderful panel they have assembled.

As we begin a new season there is hope that the injury of concussion will be taken more seriously by the players. The league itself is at least playing lip service and outwardly showing concern; it is now up to the players, the same ones who have told us that they would play through or lie about concussions to continue playing (looking at you Urlacher and Polamalu).

The teams have only been through one weekend of practice and we have our first concussion to report. Now would be a good time to call upon all of you followers to keep an eye out during preseason and beyond. I cannot compile the most comprehensive list of NFL concussions without your help. Please send info along the way, and thanks to @nflconcussions for also doing the same. All of that said our first concussion of 2012 (that we can find) is Jermichel Finley of the Packers, according to his wife;

Finley’s wife Courtney Finley spilled the news on Twitter and Aaron Nagler was sharp enough to capture it before it was subsequently deleted. Finley has a concussion, according to his wife.

“Got a slight very mild concussion at practice yesterday & protocol is to sit a few days,” she wrote and then deleted on Twitter.

As you can see we can expect more secrecy about concussions going forward, that is why you – the reader – is so important for this project. Not only will players take it upon themselves to keep it quiet, teams will be fining players for talking about concussions as well; Continue reading →

It is a good time to update what is happening Down Under as the Footy season is now in Round 18 (of 25) and after my interview on FiveAA radio in South Australia and the Kurt Tippet debate that is at least getting our attention (bold for emphasis);

Coach Brenton Sanderson expected the Crows star will resume training next week and return for the round-19 match against Essendon, but said the club would take no chances.

“I’m sure we’re going to see him back really soon,” Sanderson said on Wednesday.

“Hopefully, that’s next week but we’ll make sure we make the right decision.

“We’re not going to force him to go back out and play.

“He’s got to be comfortable, the medical team’s got to be comfortable and, as coaches, we’ve got to be comfortable with selecting him, knowing he’s going to be OK.”

Tippett suffered another head injury in the second quarter of the Crows’ win over West Coast at Football Park last weekend and was subbed out just after half-time.

It was his third concussion in just over a month and raised concerns over his long-term future.

As I stated in my interview the question of a NFL football player playing after a third concussion in five weeks is almost laughable, we rarely see three concussions in a single season, Ben Watson of the Browns last year being the only one we have found.

In the sport of Footy there are often collisions and hits that elicit concussive episodes, recently a player in the AFL received his third concussion in merely five weeks. The case of Kurt Tippett will be one Australia and the world will be watching;

Kurt Tippett’s immediate playing future is set to become a test case for the AFL’s treatment of concussion injuries.

The Crows have rested Tippett from Saturday’s game against the Cats in Geelong after the Adelaide forward suffered his third concussion in five weeks in the round-17 clash with West Coast on July 21.

I was very interested and surprised to catch this press release elsewhere, seeming as though I have met Dr. Mjaanes and was part of the Illinois Athletic Trainers Association. Regardless the Rush Orthopedic Center does a great job with concussions and I feel you should give this webinar a watch;

==========

CHICAGO, July 25, 2012 — As ongoing research shows the significant impact concussions have on the young, developing brain, parents and coaches of athletes in contact sports continue to ask:

How many concussions are too many?

Will concussions cause my child memory problems or dementia down the road?

How do I know if it is time to get him/her out of the game?

Dr. Jeff Mjaanes, Director of the Chicago Sports Concussion Clinic at Rush and a Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush (MOR) sports medicine physician, along with Mike Overturf, President of the Illinois Athletic Trainers Association (IATA) and Jim Osborne, of the Council on Brain Injury and Positive Coaching Alliance, will address those questions and more at a free webinar, “Tackling Concussions,” 7 p.m., Thursday, August 9, 2012.

As the blog began in 2010 there were many things I hoped to accomplish by doing this project; I never dreamed this place would help springboard a family to recovery after the most horrible day of their lives. However, looking back I am glad the blog was here for them and will remain here, for them and anyone else who need answers.

It was Sunday, September 26, 2010. Michelle Trenum woke up around 8 am. Gil was out of town, returning that afternoon from a weekend drill with his Navy Reserve unit in New Jersey. Walker, ten, their youngest, was on the living-room couch, hiding under a blanket. He jumped up when Michelle walked in. Boo!

“Austin’s awake,” Walker said. “He’s in the basement playing a video game.”

That’s odd, Michelle thought. Austin never got up early on Sundays. Not voluntarily.

I am honored and privileged to post an article from Will Carroll regarding concussions. I thank Will very much for his time and contribution!

==========

Changing The Culture

Will Carroll for The Concussion Blog

It’s a quiet, warm Saturday morning in July. Coming up to the Colts Complex on the west side of Indianapolis, it’s normal to see players walking in. It’s not normal for them to be nine years old.

USA Football is rolling out what amounts to a pilot program they are calling the “Protection Tour.” It’s a multi-part seminar for kids, coaches and parents that focus on the concussion issue. Sponsored in part by the NFL, it’s easy to see why they chose this program. USA Football isn’t the typical governing body. They don’t have any form of control over the largest programs, the NFL and NCAA. They don’t even hold any sway over scholastic programs. They’re more a lobbying organization, taking hold of “should bes” like coaching standards and player safety.

The Protection Tour is made of up of three “stations”. In the first and perhaps most important, coaches and players are shown tackling drills that emphasize old fashioned concepts like shoulder contact, athletic position, and wrapping up. These kinds of hits won’t make SportsCenter, but they are safer for everyone. There’s an emphasis Continue reading →

This is my first post since early June and I’ve got no excuse for being delinquent. I guess our unusually warm and sunny summer has made me listless. Nevertheless, I want to write and it’s about time I put excuses (however valid) aside and get back to writing something. It’s not like sports have disappeared this summer! The Olympics (and the media coverage) will undoubtedly come with stories that will encourage me to write. There I go, making an assumption. I shouldn’t do that. I know better.

When I started ConcussionTalk, my plan was for it to be a site where people can discuss their struggles with brain injury, exchange advice on how to deal with common problems or talk about brain injury in sports. (The discussion idea was thwarted by spammers and their ads for prescription drugs, without prescription. Nevertheless, Concussion Talk on Facebook and @concussiontalk on Twitter are there for discussion.) Two years later and the concussion and brain injury issue has become prominent Continue reading →

Curtis Martin is being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame; if it weren’t for playing though concussions perhaps he wouldn’t be getting enshrined. Martin didn’t exactly say that but reading between the lines you can see that the former and current (see Troy Polamalu) way of thinking needs to be adjusted;

The former Jets and Patriots running back, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next month, candidly recounted his teammates peeling him up from the turf, shaking him awake and guiding him toward the huddle for the next play.

“This was just the mentality, it’s no fault of the NFL or anything, it’s just a part of the game,” Martin told reporters today at a luncheon in New York, in advance of his induction. “When I would get hit, they knew that I popped up just like that, every time I get hit. … Any time that I didn’t pop up, my fullback knew to come pick me up because I was probably either dazed or knocked out.”

Martin said he was reluctant to share exactly how many concussions he suffered during his football career, because it has become such a hot-button issue in the NFL. But the total was “a lot … more than enough,” he said.

Sanna Neselius, Helena Brisby, Annette Theodorsson, Kaj Blennow, Henrik Zetterberg and Jan Marcusson did perform the largest study of active boxers known, what was less known until this one study is how long and what level the CSF biomarkers are in samples of each boxer. The most curious part of the study is that only ONE of the boxers ever reported symptoms associated with concussion yet the results show increased levels of certain biomarkers in 80% of the boxers that would be indicative of “acute axonal and neuronal damage.”

Regardless if I had the resources I wouldn’t be asking; I need your help, private donations. The cost of the conference is $300, plus travel and hotel. I am seeking to procure nearly $2500 for expenses related to the conference. If there is any way you can help please email me at theconcussionblog@comcast.net. All it takes is $25 from 100 of you, it would be via PayPal. I can assure you that I will keep open books on my trip for all to see and verify that I am using the generous donations for what I say I am…

If you are at all tuned into sports you undoubtedly heard Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers be uncomfortably candid about concussions. Polamalu has been upfront on this issue before and as we highlighted the issue is with the professional athlete; the ones informed and being paid large amounts of money to provide a service.

I would say that I really don’t have an issue with these comments;

“There’s so much built up about team camaraderie and sacrifice, and football is such a tough man’s game,” Polamalu told the Dan Patrick Show. “I think that’s why it’s so popular, why so many blue-collar communities and people feel really attracted to it, because it’s sort of a blue-collar struggle that football players go through in terms of the physicality of the game and the commitment you need. … It’s that commitment you need to play football. You feel sore, you’re beat up, you’re injured, you’re legitimately injured, most people may take three months off to work in an office, we choose to play the next week.”

Nor do I take an exception to Polamalu saying he has lied to stay on the field, that is the culture of football; which I feel is OK for professionals, only. The issue is that this information trickles down and any degree

I will be interviewed today in Richmond, Virginia about concussions on the Hardly Workin’ with Greg Burton Show at 5:10pm EST. Click the link to get to a live feed of it starting at 3 EST for a comprehensive look at concussions.

The league announced Monday that its presidents accepted a series of recommendations made by a committee, including the possibility of suspension for hits to the head. The changes, which also will limit the amount of contact in practice, will take effect this fall for men and women.

The recommendations call for continued emphasis on educational initiatives. Consistent with current protocols, preseason meetings will emphasize learning and recognizing the signs of concussions, as well as the importance of reporting symptoms of concussions.

The Ivy league will next turn its attention on hockey.

I truly appreciate what the Ivy League is doing; non-radial with little to no cost moves that will be reassessed as time goes on. I don’t know why it takes the smartest schools to make simple changes. Honestly do you think they were the first to figure out that decreasing exposure will decrease concussions?

The numbers are reaching the point where the litigation now qualifies as “mass tort,” a legal term that has been used to describe litigation on tobacco, asbestos and toxic medications.

The players are also demanding in a separate class action lawsuit that the NFL fund a program of medical monitoring for all former players (even those who did not play enough to qualify for retirement benefits), a program that would provide periodic examinations for early signs of concussion damage. The number of retired NFL players is uncertain, but players’ lawyers and their union estimate that there are at least 20,000 players who Continue reading →

We did it in mice. We gave them one mild concussion, so mild that they had no problems with learning or memory afterwards and then did it over and over and over again,” said Meehan, the study’s first author.

The mice were then tested for learning and memory, using what’s called a Morris water maze.

“Under the surface of the water is a hidden platform. And every time the mice find that platform, we reward them,” said Meehan. “The mice that are uninjured, have not been concussed, find that platform within five seconds after they do it several times. But mice that are injured take 20 to 25 seconds.”

And with each concussion, Meehan said it just got worse.

“Once they’ve had three concussions, or five, or 10, they develop profound deficits in their ability to learn and in their memory. And of course, mice don’t use steroids, and they don’t abuse drugs and alcohol,” said Meehan

The study appears in Neurosurgery and highlights not only the compounding effects of multiple traumas but takes out the other “factors” some seem to be grasping at for a reason as to why the brain is suffering. While we are looking at the text, it seems Continue reading →

Chris Wallace, a writer and editor in New York, is a former football quarterback. In the Paris Review he recently wrote a first hand story about concussions and its lasting effects. It deserves the read but here are some snipets;

Late in the third quarter of a blowout loss at North Torrance High School my junior year I woke up in a blurry huddle. Grids of stadium lighting were smeared on the South Bay night sky as if they’d been moved before they dried. My teammates stood around me in their away whites, the sateen jerseys looking smudged and shabby in the dark. I shouldn’t have been surprised if a star suddenly dilated just to wink at me, such was my loopy state of mind—and my self-regard as a high school quarterback.

A timeout had been called, apparently. There was no apparent rush to get back to the line of scrimmage, run another play. And our coach was in the huddle with us. Oh, thank god, I thought, Coach is playing. I’d never seen him in uniform before, but didn’t think to question it—we needed all the help we could get. Though, standing next to the star receiver with whom he’d traded outfits, he did look a lot taller than normal.

Time in the summer has seemingly been slipping away from me fast. Honestly, most of the traffic ’round here tails off in June, July and August. However I do feel an obligation to make sure y’all keep informed. Today here are some links from the past few days;

In some instances, the concussed can feel very much like he’s on another planet. The sky itself can change to colors the sky shouldn’t be at a particular time.

“This color obviously isn’t going to be blue. It can be a color that can be orange. It can be red. The sky could turn green,” Holmes told Chris Corbellini. “There’s even an episode where you see a clear light, like light at the end of the tunnel.”[…]

“As much as I loved it [football], that same love now has put me in situations that I have to live with,” he said.”The frontal headaches, the migraines. Laying in bed, it’s tough to get out mornings just because of the pain that is setting in with an arthritic condition, it’s things like that that you never would have really thought about.”

Accepted risk by Holmes, no doubt, however not grasping the long-term effects and really just wanting to play a sport he loved has put him in a position that makes it tough. In related news Stephen Davis, also a former running back, recently made statements about concussions in his time as a player; Continue reading →

If you recall our post earlier today there was a link about the AFL wanting more information about an injury that occurred in the Carlton/Collingwood match. It resulted in some peculiar signs from Kade Simpson.

AFL.com.au writer Damian Barrett wrote about this; noting that medical personnel would have some serious consternation with it;

AFL MEDICAL professionals loathe it when non-medical people critique their work.

Some get so incensed they verge on apoplexy.

So we make this observation with bated breath – some decisions made by AFL doctors during a football match seem to be influenced by the state of that game.

Rightly or wrongly, Collingwood has twice this year put back onto the field players who had already sustained damage, only for those players, Luke Ball and Scott Pendlebury, to later be diagnosed with serious problems.

Out of the weekend’s round 15 matches, two clubs, Carlton and Essendon, were questioned over their handling of stricken players, respectively Kade Simpson and Kyle Reimers.

The hit on Simpson by Collingwood’s Sharrod Wellingham was horrific, and left the Blue midfielder with a broken jaw and arm spasms.

The AFL meds aren’t the only ones, the docs (and athletic trainers) here are very wary of any observation resulting in “sideline medicine”. However, not only am I a trained medical professional specializing in concussions but the brain injury of concussion is subjective. Meaning simply that you can assess or observe a concussion from signs produced from the insult to the brain.

In this particular case Simpson did in fact show clear, overt signs of a concussion; yet was allowed to return to play. How do I know, heck all of you should be able to observe it yourself, look… Continue reading →

If you recall Tom Hearn from Maryland had the opportunity to present information to the Maryland State Board of Education about concussions. What resulted was a discussion among the board, Hearn was able to get a transcript (link at end) of this discussion and we have highlighted some key points (they begin on page 5). The time marking represents where on the audio file you can find the information (working on a link for that)

==========

11:17

Kate Walsh (MdSBE Board Member): I think the Board’s interest here was to get at testimony before the Board in public comment. I think these are all great things that you have done, but there were three complaints that were raised that we thought were quite compelling, and we wanted to hear them addressed. And I don’t hear you really addressing any of them.

So, can we go through this? What we heard was that there were regulations similar to those adopted by the Massachusetts Department of [Public] Health, have we done that? Have we adopted regulations that are similar to those?

12:00

Ned Sparks (MdSDE Athletics, Executive Director/MPSSAA Executive Director): No. Again, those were regulations of the Department of Health in Massachusetts.

Kate Walsh (MdSBE Board Member): So is that something you saying that we would not adopt be under another?

Ned Sparks (MdSDE Athletics, Executive Director/MPSSAA Executive Director): I don’t know the regulations exactly how they are in Massachusetts but I would think that that would certainly be a combination of the Department of Health and the Education Department regarding that. [It sounds like, since the Mass DPH regulations were brought to the attention of the State Board in the parent’s May 22, 2012 testimony—five weeks earlier, Mr. Sparks had not yet reviewed the regulations.] Now, again, we had a representative on that group as you can see from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, as a matter of fact two of them.

12:31

Renee Spence (Executive Director, MdSDE Office of Government Affairs): We work very closely with folks from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Also, in Maryland, the Governor has put together a traumatic brain injury commission. There are a lot of folks working on traumatic brain injuries.

12:47

Kate Walsh (MdSBE Board Member): I just think it would be helpful if we could see why this Massachusetts Department of Public Health were cited as superior to our Continue reading →

Trying to keep up with all the concussion news is tough, even harder across the Pacific in Australia. I choose that particular spot because of the collision sports of rugby and Aussie Rules Football. In my most recent search of concussion Down Under I tripped across an article that was highlighting a current concussion issue with a player, Kade Simpson – by the way the official injury listed is jaw, but this article reports a concussion, obviously an inherent sporting issue to not report. Heck even the AFL is asking one of its teams to identify an injury that reportedly, denied by team, resulted in loss of consciousness; team merely stated he had blurred vision after a hard head knock (really?????)

Regardless I found this very interesting comment in the article;

Melbourne’s Daniel Bell and Western Bulldog Matthew Robbins have highlighted their own issues with concussion, while Dean Kemp and Chad Rintoul are among players who have won injury compensation.

It appears as though the concussion issue is hampering a lot of people who choose to take the risks in collision sports. I will see if I can dig up more.

The article mentions that there will be the 4th International Conference in Zürich later this year, can anyone get me an invite to this? I will gladly report back for all interested.

Saukvalley.com and Christopher Heimerman have been posting a series about concussions recently, legend found HERE. Recently Heimerman took on the angle of athletic trainers as they relate to the “Hidden Injury”, concussion. On the jump there is an interview with Sterling High School Athletic Trainer, Andi Sumerfelt seen here;

If you go to YouTube to watch it, it should bring up the series of videos that go along with the stories on saukvalley.com.

Not having an athletic trainer is forgivable. Refusing to acknowledge the need for one? That’s different.

I sat down with Dixon School District Superintendent Mike Juenger and Athletic Director Jon Empen, hoping for some answers about what life was like after Andi Sumerfelt lost her job, and Dixon lost her free services as athletic trainer.

This is a common theme lately, athletic trainers losing their jobs at hospitals and hospitals no longer providing a service for free. Schools are either faced with losing the coverage completely or pay for a reduced coverage. In this column Dixon Continue reading →

Thanks to @ConcernedMom9 I was sent an article from Sports Illustrated written by Michael Farber. Before I tell you the year and provide the link I want so share some quotes from it;

“People are missing the boat on brain injuries,” says Dr. James P. Kelly, director of the brain-injury program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and an assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Medical School. “It isn’t just cataclysmic injury or death from brain injuries that should concern people. The core of the person can change from repeated blows to the head.

“I get furious every time I watch a game and hear the announcers say, ‘Wow, he really got his bell rung on that play.’ It’s almost like, ‘Yuk, yuk, yuk,’ as if they’re joking. Concussions are no joke.”

That sounds very similar to what we are discussing now in 2012.

======

•Of the 1.5 million high school football players in the U.S., 250,000 suffer a concussion in any given season, according to a survey conducted for The American Journal of Public Health.

•A player who has already suffered a concussion is four times more likely to get one than a player who has been concussion-free. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and defensive backs are most vulnerable, […] that special teams players were at the highest risk per minute spent on the field.

•Concussions are underreported at all levels of football. This is partly because of the subtlety of a mild concussion (unless a player is as woozy as a wino, the injury might go undetected by a busy trainer or coach) but primarily because players have bought into football’s rub-dirt-on-it ethos. “If we get knocked in the head, it’s embarrassing to come to the sideline and say, ‘Hey, my head’s feeling funny,’ ” says San Francisco 49er quarterback Steve Young, who has suffered at least a half dozen concussions. “So I’m sure we’re denying it.”

•Football’s guidelines for players returning after concussions are sometimes more lenient than boxing’s. The New Jersey Boxing Commission requires a fighter who is knocked out to wait 60 days and submit to an electroencephalogram (EEG) before being allowed back into the ring.

•According to Ken Kutner, a New Jersey neuropsychologist, postconcussion syndrome is far more widespread than the NFL or even those suffering from the syndrome would lead us to believe. […] Kutner says that the players fear that admitting to postconcussion syndrome might cost them a job after retirement from football.

Hmmm, we all thought this was information new to us – new being 2008.

======

That, however, doesn’t console Lawrence and Irene Guitterez of Monte Vista, Colo. “He just thought it was something trivial,” Irene says of her son, Adrian, who was a running back on the Monte Vista High team three years ago. “He had a headache and was sore, but it seemed like cold symptoms. He wasn’t one to complain. He wouldn’t say anything to anybody. He wanted to play in the Alamosa game.”

He did play. At halftime Guitterez, who had suffered a concussion in a game two weeks before and had not yet shaken the symptoms, begged teammates not to tell the coaches how woozy he felt. When he was tackled early in the third quarter, he got up disoriented and then collapsed. Five days later he died.

Years later another Colorado high school football player, Jake Snakenberg, would unfortunately repeat history; leading to the concussion legislation passed in that state.

It is just before the All-Star Break, seems good enough time to update the concussion list for Major League baseball. Last year at this time there were five players that had been diagnosed concussions, our first update of the season this year matched that number.

I cannot explain the relative increase in concussions versus last year, as the sport of baseball is not a “high producer” of this injury. In my opinion it boils down to awareness of the injury and the team/players being more willing to rest the concussion. If the hopes of the new 7-day DL was to expose and protect all the concussions it seems to be working, to this point.

There has been a 100% increase in concussions compared to last season at this time, as there are now 10 players who have been diagnosed with a concussion, list below; Continue reading →

As of July 1st the state of New York’s law on concussions is in full effect. The key provisions are not un-similar to other states and include: each school coach, athletic trainer, nurse and PE teacher must take a course on concussions, suspected concussions will result in immediate removal, and anyone with a concussion cannot return to activity in less than 24 hours and MUST have a physician clear them.

WSYR of Syracuse, New York had a segment on the topic a couple of days ago, and you might notice the individual interviewed in the piece, non other than Dr. Don Brady – follower and commenter on this blog (click on link to see video);

According to experts like psychologist Dr. Don Brady, as many as 40% of kids prematurely return to play a sport after getting a concussion. “Think of a concussion as a sprained brain,” explained Dr. Brady. “You don’t ask someone who sprains their ankle to go out and see if their ankle’s okay and run around the track a couple of times to see how much better it is. You tell them to rest, period. We don’t do that with concussions.”

Dr. Brady says brain damage occurs when the brain ricochets in the skull after an impact.

Top Rated

The Concussion Blog Hits

1,191,738 hits

Click Here to Return to Home Page

Fair Use Disclaimer

All material gathered from other sources is sourced and linked per "fair use" guidelines. Photos are found via public searches and are intended to capture the headline. If you feel that your work or photo is not abiding to "fair use" guidelines please contact me at theconcussionblog@comcast.net

All rights reserved for all original material 2010-2011. I guess this also means it is copyrighted as well. Which means just source and link me!